AU. Captured by a gang while on vacation, Rachel Elizabeth Dare only knows two facts: there's a ruthless murderer after her, and she's suffering a severe case of Stockholm's. Rathan.

[A/N]: Rathan—Rachel Elizabeth Dare/Ethan Nakamura. Haha, I love this pairing. Probably because I made it up. Kind of. I know there's at least one other person on Fanfiction who has thought of this pairing by themselves, but I did think of this pairing on my own. And that is why I must write pointless fanfics about Rachel/Ethan, to spread the word. :D

This fic's AU—alternate universe. Everyone's human. Story rated T for obvious reasons. Not very innocent writing o.O Advance warning, of course. I think I'm getting too influenced by…ah…certain classmates who are boys, and have a strange sense of humor…What you all will think of me, after this story…I don't know. But there will be...uh…romantic moments in more detail than I usually write in…which makes me feel very awkward since I did not know I could write that kind of stuff. *sigh* And Ethan says interesting things. *awkward turtle*

I don't own PJO.

(Guess what! This story actually has a plot, for once! *is proud of self*)

Rathan is pronounced "Ray-than."

Thanks to The Midnight Doe for being the beta XD

-Epsilon-

By: zynaofthenight

Prologue: Lost and Found

"There's a girl wandering in the streets, lost, Ethan. She's got red hair and green eyes. We've been watching her for some time, ever since she stepped inside the alleyways. Seems rich."

"You think we can get the money?" Ethan Nakamura turned to Percy Jackson with an inquiring look. "You know we can't afford to make any mistakes. One blunder and we're in deep trouble."

The other boy nodded swiftly and glanced at the girl next to him. "Annabeth thinks so."

"Well, if Annabeth thinks so…"

Lost. She was lost.

Rachel Elizabeth Dare hissed under her breath in frustration as she turned into yet another dead end. Already, the sky above was dotted with stars; it was dark, she was lost, and she also happened to be wandering in a maze of streets in a strange city.

Where were her parents? Rachel had only been curious (and bored with her parents' pointless chatter about the scenery), so she slipped into an alleyway when no one was looking in her direction. She had figured she would just explore the city a bit—she was on vacation after all, and Manhattan seemed like such a foreign place to her; having lived all her life in the Hoover Dam area, the bustling noises of the city intrigued Rachel.

She considered crying out for help, but quickly decided against that. Cities were known for their gangs, murderers, and…worse. Who knew what was out there, eyeing some poor, innocent girl like her. Any call Rachel gave would immediately attract the attention of many unwanted people.

Crack.

Rachel froze. In the silence that followed, her heart pounded so furiously in her chest that she was almost surprised no one appeared due to the noise. Someone's here. Someone's come.

Silence, except for her heartbeat. Slowly, she began to breathe more freely, her maddened pulse calming down. Maybe it was just a dog wandering about the street. Perhaps there was really no one around. Perhaps—

"Hello, there."

Rachel whirled around, her mouth already forming a scream. But before she could utter any sound, a large hand was clamped over her mouth. Her screams now muffled, Rachel began to struggle, trying to kick and punch whatever/whoever was holding her back. Something pinned her arms behind her back, but still, Rachel fought against her bonds.

The cool steel of a knife pressed against her throat, and she stopped struggling, panic beginning to overwhelm her. Closing her eyes, she held still, though her heart was still pounding with terror.

"Good," a smooth, obviously masculine voice whispered in her right ear, sending involuntary shivers of fear down her neck. "Stay still and I won't have to kill you." Her captor trailed the flat of blade along her throat to make his point. The pressure of the knife disappeared, and she could hear her captor straightening up and saying something unintelligible.

Suddenly, Rachel was released from her bonds, and she fell gasping to the ground. An impatient hiss came from above her, and she quickly got to her feet, looking about her.

She was surrounded. Tense, armed people with flashlights formed a circle around her. As she narrowed her eyes against the bright lights, she saw that they were all teenagers, around her age, or maybe a bit older. A burly girl, who must have been the one pinning her down, stepped into her place in the circle, her

"Silly girl, wandering about the streets alone at night. You should know the dangers that come with that."

Rachel stared as she realized that there was a boy standing in front of her, a knife in his hand. She immediately recognized his voice as her captor's.

"What do you want?" she asked, trying to hide the trembling in her voice. She couldn't allow herself to show fear, especially in front of these people. She was surrounded and cornered by a gang in the dead of the night.

On closer inspection, her captor looked about her age—a typical sixteen or seventeen year old teenager. He had glossy black hair that fell to his shoulders, and there was a black eye patch over his left eye, illuminated in a ghostly by the flashlights. His visible eye was dark brown—and as Rachel stared at him, she couldn't help thinking that he was rather…attractive.

Rachel wanted to laugh hysterically. Here she was, captured and probably about to be killed or worse, and she was thinking her captor was attractive.

The boy raked his gaze over her, smiling in a not-so-nice way. Rachel flinched as the boy's eyebrows rose higher and higher as he looked her over. Who knew what unchaste thoughts were currently running in his mind as his eyes passed over her body…

Her captor smirked and stepped forward. Rachel was too shocked to move as he came closer and closer, until their faces were only a few inches away from each other. Frozen, Rachel watched in fear as the boy leaned closer, until his forehead was almost touching hers.

"Afraid now?" His breath flooded over her face and she tried to take a step backwards, only to find that the boy was pressing his knife against her back. He's going to kill me. Or rape me. Or worse, he's going to rape me, then kill me.

The boy stepped away, taking the knife away from her back. "Silly, silly girl. Wandering around at night." He grinned sanctimoniously, giving her an innocent look.

"If you knew who my parents were, you wouldn't dare touch me." The words tumbled out of her without thinking.

The smug look on his face disappeared instantly. "Tell me your name," he said roughly, grasping Rachel's wrist in a painful grip and jerking her towards him. "What's your name?"

"I-I…Rachel," she faltered under his death glare. "Rachel Elizabeth Dare." She whispered the last word and closed her eyes, certain of what was to come.

And she was correct. When the boy spoke again, his tone held something akin to glee. "Miss Dare, daughter of the president of Dare Enterprises?"

When Rachel didn't respond, the boy tightened his grip on her wrist and pushed her against a wall along the street, growling. "Answer me."

She nodded mutely, too terrified to speak.

Her captor released his grip on her and turned to the surrounding gang. "Did you hear that, Annabeth? Dare Enterprises."

A blonde girl stepped out of the circle and glanced at Rachel. It was hard to see in the darkness, even with the flashlights, but Rachel was pretty sure she saw the girl had an apologetic look in her eyes. "Is this what we're looking for, Ethan?"

Her captor—Ethan—turned to Rachel. "Would your parents be willing to pay a hundred thousand dollars for you, girl?"

She nodded again, and then somehow found the courage to speak. "Wouldn't any parent be willing to pay that much for their children?"

There was a flicker of emotion in Ethan's dark eye as he looked at her. "Mine wouldn't," he muttered softly, so softly that she almost thought he hadn't spoken. Only the slight movement of his lips gave him away.

Suddenly, Rachel felt a stab of pity. Sure, her parents may not seem to care much for her, but they would protect her and pay for her. If Ethan didn't even have the faith that his parents would—What was she doing? Rachel shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. What was wrong with her? She was being threatened with death, and all she could do was sympathize with her captor.

"Annabeth," Was it her imagination, or did Ethan's voice crack slightly as he looked towards the blonde? "You know what to do."

The girl nodded and disappeared off into an alleyway. Ethan turned to Rachel with an unreadable expression on his face. "You're hostage here, until your parents pay for you, understand? Thalia, take care of her back at the hideout."

With a lightning fast movement, Ethan grabbed Rachel and dragged her with him as he walked away, the rest of the gang following him.

"Where are you taking me?" She twisted from his grip and tried to kick the boy, but all she got was a jolt of pain as he grabbed her hair and turned her head around so she was facing him.

Ethan smirked, his eyes mocking. When he spoke again, his voice was low and amused.

"Hell."

The shadowy figure chuckled quietly to himself as he watched the gang make their way through the alleyways. So Ethan had finally mustered up enough nerve to capture a hostage. However, a dead hostage wasn't a good source of money, was it?

The watcher laughed quietly. "Run all you want, kiddos. It's no use."

[A/N]: I warned you at the beginning of the chapter that this story wasn't very innocent. It's different…and more like my unsighted story.

This was a sort of intro chapter. I hope I can write longer chapters after this, but this chapter was just a kind of filler for the setting and stuff. Sorry for the all-italics for the first and last sections, it was done on purpose in my attempt to create a 'mysterious, interesting' mood. Kind of.

Come one everyone, you've just got to love Rachel and Ethan :D

Review please? I like reviews. Reviews are nice. They make me happy. And a happy author means more updates.

In regarding to why Percy and Annabeth are on the same side as Ethan: this is AU. I can make my characters go on whatever side they want to. There's a reason, which will be revealed sometime in the next few chapters.

Hey, this story could be worse. It actually started out with a Princess Rachel and a random guy named Ethan. Long story…